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GUIDELINES FOR LANGUAGE USAGE IN RESEARCH
WRITING

Voice and Self-Reference
In the past, scientific writers used the passive voice almost
exclusively and referred to themselves in the third person: “This
experiment was designed by the authors to test ...” This practice produces

lifeless prose and is no longer the norm. Use the active voice unless style
or content dictates otherwise; and, in general, keep self-reference to a
minimum. Remember that you are not the topic of your article. You should
not refer to yourself as “the author” or “the investigator.” (You may refer
to “the experimenter” in the method section, however, even if that happens
to be you; the experimenter is part of the topic under discussion there.) Do
not refer to yourself as “we” unless there really are two or more authors.

You may refer to yourself as “I,” but do so sparingly. It tends to distract
the reader from the topic, and it is better to remain in the background.
Leave the reader in the background, too. Do not say, “The reader will find
it hard to believe that ... “ or “You will be surprised to learn...” (This article
violates the rule because you and your prose are the topic.) You may,
however, refer to the reader indirectly in imperative, “you-understood”

sentences: “Consider, first, the results for women.” “Note particularly the
difference between the means in Table 1.”
In some contexts, you can use “we” to refer collectively to yourself
and your readers: “We can see in Table 1 that most of the tears...”
Tense
Use the past or present perfect tense when reporting the previous
research of others (“Bandura reported...” or “Hardin has reported…”) and

past tense when reporting how you conducted your study (“Observers were
posted behind...”) and specific past behaviors of your participants (“Two of
the men talked...”). Use the present tense for results currently in front of
the reader (“As Table 2 shows, the negative film is more effective ...”) and
for conclusions that are more general than the specific results (“Positive
emotions, then, are more easily expressed when...”).

Avoid Language Bias
Like most publishers, the APA now has extensive guidelines for
language that refers to individuals or groups.
Research Participants. One distinctive group of people who appear
in our journal articles are those whom we study. It is no longer considered
appropriate to objectify them by calling them subjects. Instead use
descriptive terms that either identify them more specifically or that

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